Dr. Kevin Anchukaitis serves as Chair of the Global Change GIDP, teaches the Global Change core coure, and facilitates the Global Change Toolkit core course. He is paleoclimatologist, dendrochronologist, and earth systems geographer specializing in the reconstruction and analysis of climate variability and change over the Common Era and the interaction between past climate and human society.

The GC-GDIP, with assistance from The Institute of the Environment (IE), offers small awards (up to $1,000) to students in the GC Minor program to aid in the improvement of their dissertation. The call for applications goes out in February, and awards are usually announced in March. DIG awards will be available for student use during the following academic year.

Austin Rutherford is a Ph.D. student in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment. He received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Indiana University. Before graduate school, Austin worked with the U.S. Geological Survey examining climate change impacts on biological soil crusts. His current research focuses on shrub encroachment as a form of rangeland desertification. Austin utilizes field-based experiments to investigate the critical seedling establishment phase of velvet mesquite shrubs in Sonoran Desert grasslands.

Omar Youssef is a doctoral student in the Arid Lands Resource Sciences Graduate Interdisciplinary Program. The building industry as a whole is undergoing evolution in sustainability. Among the different building prototypes there has been a particular focus on healthcare facilities from aspects of energy efficiency, cleaner interior air quality, and patient's health related care.

Anne Billingsley currently works at the Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona. Anne does research in Geochemistry, Climatology and Biogeography. Their most recent publication is 'The Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project: Inferring the environmental context of human evolution from eastern African rift lake deposits.'

Ladd Keith's research focuses on connecting climate change science to decision making in public policy. He is researching the application of public policy to plan and design cities in the desert southwest for changing climate conditions.